Today Intel is releasing their latest LGA2011 processors using the Ivy Bridge-E architecture. The flagship Core i7-4960X model is on the test bed and with 6 cores and 12 threads clocked at 3.6GHz along with a massive 15MB L3 cache we are expecting good things...

Intel are once again getting “extreme” as they prepare to roll out their latest generation enthusiast processors based on the LGA2011 platform. Intel first introduced the LGA2011 platform back in November of 2011 with two processors and one chipset. The processors in question were the Core i7-3960X and i7-3930K, while the chipset was the X79.

Based on the then current Sandy Bridge architecture which was initially released 11 months prior "Sandy Bridge-E" (32 nm) was born. Boasting up to 6 core, 12 threads, 15MB of L3 cache and a quad-channel memory controller, the new Sandy Bridge-E processors were monsters.

The flagship and Extreme Edition model, known as the Core i7-3960X, cost a cool $1000 and although it was slower than the $320 Core i7-2600K when comparing memory bandwidth and gaming performance, it was worlds faster in our synthetic, application and encoding benchmarks.

Since then we have seen the arrival of the Ivy Bridge Core i7 processors in April 2012, just 5 months after the release of Sandy Bridge-E. The Ivy Bridge architecture adopted the LGA1155 socket which was already being used by the Sandy Bridge processor, and at the helm was the Core i7-3770K.

When compared to the previous i7-2600K flagship model the i7-3770K was around 10% faster while consuming around 10% less power. A noteworthy improvement, but nothing to get overly excited about and certainly not enough to warrant upgrading if you already had a Sandy Bridge processor.

Then most recently in June 2013 the latest Haswell architecture was released and along with it the Core i7-4770K. Interestingly Haswell introduced a new socket which removed five pins, called the LGA1150, and was in no way compatible with LGA1155 processors. Our testing showed an average performance gain over Ivy Bridge at a little under 10%, while Haswell actually consumed more power.

Haswell has been out in the wild for 3 months now, while Sandy Bridge-E is still Intel’s ultimate desktop platform for almost 2 years now. That being the case Intel is ready for a refresh of its extreme platform, but they won’t be skipping the Ivy Bridge architecture and moving straight to the current Haswell architecture. Rather the LGA2011 platform is getting an upgrade with some Ivy Bridge-E processors.

Enter the Core i7-4960X which still features 6 cores, 12 threads, 15MB L3 cache, quad-channel DDR3 memory and is supported by the same aging X79 chipset. This doesn’t sound very exciting, so what’s new? Well other than a slight bump in frequency, which is kind of pointless on an unlocked Extreme Edition processor, and the ability to natively support DDR3-1866 memory, not a lot. Of course you get the slight efficiency improvements of the Ivy Bridge architecture, but is that it?